600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Practically all seeds such as rice, beans, peas, oat, and others can be made tempeh. Each gives a different taste. Each takes a different period of time in boiling to get ready for inoculation. Soybeans, the main and most common stuff for tempeh takes 45 to 60 minutes, but most peas take 15 to 20 minutes. After dehulling, soybeans need 5 to 10 minutes of second boiling before being drained and spread drying on towels. Additional nuking and blowing are sometimes necessary. The difficult task is to gauge the dryness of the substrate. Too dry means slow or no growth of mycelium; too wet, however, results in myceliolysis and rotting tempeh. Fortunately, the margin of safety is wide enough.

Tempeh starter or Inoculum tempeh

Using too much and insufficient amount of starter result in myceliolysis or rotting tempeh. The safest way is just following the recommendation of the makers of the starter. Using home made starter needs lots patience in trial and error. Please open and read “Making tempeh starter” from

For the first ten hours, incubating at 31 to 33 C or 88 to 91 F is safe. For the next six hours, temperatures around 28 C or 82 F are good. As soon as the substrate starts generating its own heat (the temperature inside the incubator begins to rise) or some condensation starts, the heating source should be removed. Rhizopus keeps on growing at temperatures below 20 C or 64 F, but it grows at slower pace.